Emdeni
Classification and Dialects Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Stress is always on the penultimate syllable. Vowels can be both short and long. Long vowels can be written either with an accent (á é í ó oú ú) or with a double letter (aa, ee, ii, oo, oou, uu) Spelling changes There are two ways a word can change it's spelling: Sheema Sheema is a change happening at the beginning of a syllable. It happens because of endings attached to the syllable which change it's structure. It only happens to letters n, l and s: n --> ny l --> ly s --> sh Theema Theema is a change happening a the beginning of a word. It is affected by the previous word in such a way that the ending consonant of the first word drops out the primary vowel of the second word. The two words must be written together, with a hyphen (-) between them. Writing System Grammar Verbal nouns Verbs don't have an infinitive form, but rather a verbal noun is used as a stem. Verbal nouns are divided into four groups based on their ending letter: -a, -i, -ou and a consonantal ending. Most of the verbs belong in that group, although some are also irregular and have their own way of forming tenses from verbal nouns. Present tense is formed in the following way: # If the verbal noun ends with -a then nothing changes. calya(loving) --> calya # If the verbal noun ends with a consonant, an -a is added. clis(crying) --> clisa # If the verbal noun ends with an -ou, then ha /ça/ is added. bou(fearing) --> bouha # If the verbal nouns ends with an -i, it is exchanged for an -a. ghínyi(knowing) --> ghínya # If the verbal noun ending with -i is monosyllabic, the -i is lenghtened. gli(building) --> glí Personal pronouns Personal pronouns are as follows: éme --> I éte --> You, singular, informal én --> He/She --> Used to talk about people and living beings éa --> It --> Used to talk about things es --> He/She/It --> Used to talk about dead people and things long gone éméni --> We éméti --> You, plural, informal éni --> They --> Used to talk about people and living beings éana --> They --> Used to talk about things ési --> They --> Used to talk about dead people and things long gone isa --> You, singular, formal isáni --> You, plural, formal Genders There are four distinct grammatical genders: # Human ( only words connected to humans, such as professions, titles, nationalities etc.) # Natural (Animals, natural forces, plants, and other things considered "natural") # Mechanical (Anything considered "unnatural" or "manmade") # Dead (Encompassing dead people and things long gone) Articles There are eight distinct articles, two for each gender: # Ét --> Human, singular # Étes --> Human, plural # Éph --> Natural, singular # Éphes --> Natural, plural # Él --> Mechanical, singular # Éles --> Mechanical, plural # Éd --> Dead, singular # Édes -->Dead, plural The articles always specify a concrete person, or a thing. The articles are always placed after the noun they accompany. Cases Emdeni has four cases. Subjective, Possessive, Objective, and Postpositional. Subjective denotes the subject, the doer of an action, Possessive denotes the possessor, or to whom something belongs, and Objective denotes the object, or the recipient of the action. Postpositional is a bit more complicated, and will be explained later on. The Possessive case is formed by two simple rules: # If the subject begins with a consonant, the prefix eme- is added # If the subject begins with a vowel, the prefix, emen- is added. Note that the prefix is separated from the stem by a hyphen, and is never capitalized. The objective case is formed similarly: # If the object begins with a consonant, the prefix ava- is added. # If the object begins with a vowel, the prefix avan- is added. Just like with the possessive, the prefix is never capitalized, and is separated by a hyphen. Basic Sentences Sentences follow the VSO order, meaning that sentences start with verbs. If we compare the english sentence "He is making his bed" which begins with the subject, followed by the verb and then the object. He - Én To make - Gli Bed - Saba The sentence in Emdeni would be "Glí én emen-én ava-saba él." The object needs an article, because it is known whose bed it is. Personal pronouns in object form All personal pronouns have a special object form : éme --> aváme éte --> aváte én --> aván éa --> avá es --> avás éméni --> avámi éméti --> aváti éni --> aváni éana --> avána ési --> avási isa --> avísa isáni --> avísani I fear him. --> Bouha éme aván. I love him. --> Calya éme aván. Adjective placement Adjective placement not a complex matter. One just needs to follow the two rules : # If an adjective is a personal opinion or a color, it goes after the noun. # If the adjective specifies the object (like size, age ...) it goes before the noun. The adjective is always added as a suffix or a prefix to the noun (separated by a hyphen) For example: I am building a red house --> Glí éme ava-cana-lapi. House --> Cana Red --> Lapi I see the old house. --> Mána éme ava-ada-cana él. Seeing --> Mána Old --> Ada "To be" and "To have" Emdeni has neither the "to be" nor the "to have" verb, instead a bit stranger construction is used. The verb "to be" is dropped altogether: Eeme bugou. --> I (am) a boy. Een hiina --> He/She (is) a woman. The verb "to have" is pretty similar, it just requires an object in the objective case. Eeme ava-cana. --> I (have) a house. Een ava-bugoulaa --> He/She has a boyfriend. Plural The plural is formed by adding a suffix -nii. If the word ends in a consonant, the sufix is -inii. It causes the sheema. eemeeni nyoutinii --> We are men. (man --> nout) Example text